Internal combustion engine cylinder-head construction



, Dec. 5, 1939. A. A. wooDwARD INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE CYLINDER-HEAD CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 19, 1958 M I n A I T I T V v 5 V 1. u l I 1 llllll i 1- l 1L i. L W v fi u a 2. w 2 7 6 5 r 2 Z j Z I 5 J/ a w m Lm INVENTOR. BY MM ATTORNEY.

Patented Dem-5, 1939 m'raamn coMnus'noN ENGINE enmnan-nun oons'moc'rron Arthnr A. Woodward, Detroit, 1mm, minor to Skinner Motors,

poratlon of Delaware 1110., Detroit, Mich, a. cor- Application September 19, 1938, SerialNo. 230,611

' 9 Claims. (01. 123-173) The current invention pertains to certain fea-. tures of betterment and refinement in internal combustion engines of the character and type presented in United .States' Letters Patent No.

=5 1,830,136, R. L. Skinner, Internal combustion engines, granted November 3, 1931, the invention relating more particularly to improvements in the cylinder-head and the parts oi the mechanism with which it cooperates.

One object of the invention is to provide a di.iferent, simpler, and more economical spring means coacting with the cylinder-head for main-. taining the hold-down ring yieldingly pressing. down against the ported, split, expansible seal- A further aim of the invention is a novel mounting of the cylinder-head in the cylinder, whereby to overcome certain difficulties encountered in constructions wherein the cylinder-head is held in placeby studs and nuts or cap-screws. An additional purpose of the invention is to mount the flexible, pressure-sealing reeds in a' more effective, less expensive and simpler manher than has heretofore been feasible.

To enable those. trained in this art-to understand the present invention both from structural and functional standpoints, a present, preferred I embodiment of the invention has been. illus-.

trated in detail in the accompanying drawing,

. Above such inner cylinder and resting on the upper edge thereof is the usual, split, expansible,

ported sealing-ring l5 having its ports in.reg-. ister with those of the-outer cylinder.

Bearing ontop of such sealing-ring I5 is the customary, continuous or. unsplit and'hence nonexpanslble hold-down ring It having a narrow, 50 inwardly directed flangealong its lower edge, whereby the gas pressure in the c'ylinders may act thereon to force the hold-down ring down- Slidable lengthwise between, the outer cylinder l'l,;on theone hand, and the inner i4,

sealing-ring l5 and hold-down ring It, on the other hand, are the well-known, thin, substantially semicircular, ported valves i1 and I8 governing and controlling the opening and closing of the registered ports of the outer cylinder and 5 the sealing-ring, these valves being reciprocated in proper timed relationship by means, not shown,.hecause the United States Letters Patent referred to above, to which reference should be had, fully'disclose these and other associated 1 means. I

The engine, of course, has a piston reciprocating in the internal cylinder coupled to the engine crank-shaft by a connecting-rod, but none of these parts are shown in the drawing as their. 15 illustration is not essential to an understanding of the present inventionl The cylinder-head l9, instead of being held in place on the cylinder-blocker casting by the customary plurality of circularly spaced studs and 20 nuts or cap-screws is fastened in position by much simpler and effective novelmeans.

in of larger diameter than the bore of the cylin- 5 der, and the top portion of the cylinder-head has a circular, upwardly-facing shoulder 22 and between such shoulder and the upper surface of the cylinder-groove there is interposed a soft or resilient gasket 23 such as rubber or any other suitable material, and on top of that is a split,

metal, expansible locking'or retaining ring which secures the cylinder-head firmly in place by being of such width as illustrated to overlie the cylinder-head shoulder.

To assemble these parts, the cylinder-head is inserted in the cylinder 9. sufllcient distance to allow the introduction of the gasket and lockingreaching the cylinder-block.

. The manner of demounting the cylinder-head will be readily understood by any one skilled in This construction has at least two outstanding advantages over the prior art structure.

The fault-in the earlier art has been that the cylinder-heads, which are normally subjected to high loads, are,held'in place'at several separated points by threaded studs and their nuts or capscrews and the forces or loads acting on the cylinder-head are distributed by it to these diverse points of attachment causing the latter to distort the cylinder-block in a manner to disturb or vary the cylindrical shapes of the engine-cylinders making them slightly tapered or out-of round or both. I v

In the present new construction, any upward pressur on the cylinder-head caused by the gas pressure is transmitted from the cylinder-head through the gasket to the confining or locking ring and from the latter directly and circumferentially equally to the cylinder-casting around its bore, thus creating merely an unobiectionable .medial, circumferential recess 25 with a downwardly facing circular shoulder 26 against which bears the inner portion of a relatively-flat washer-shaped, endless spring 21, the outer, circular, marginal part of such spring overlying and bearing on the upper edge of the hold-down ring it, the arrangement and disposition of parts being such that as the hold-down ring tends to rise, due at least in part to the upward travel of the valves, such ascent is yieldingly resisted by.

. the action of the spring, the thickness of which and the amount of its deflection-from its fiat condition determining the load which it imposes on the hold-down ring and through that on the sealing-ring;

Among the valuable advantages which this design incorporates over that set forth in the specifiedpatent may be mentioned the following, the new structure (0) involves the use of the least numberof parts, (b) avoids the employmentof a number of comparatively-short helical-springs, (c) escapes the need for any member acted upon by such spiral-springs to distribute their conjoint actions on the hold-down ring, (d) the new annular type of spring is so constructed that its radial position is closely controlled by the cylinder-head around which the spring is fitted (e) the relative ease of assembly of the cylinder-head unit embodying this type of single, fiat spring as compared with the assemblyproblem of ahead using the required multiple, small helicalsprings to develop the needed axial load, and,

(f) the resisting force of the one, new, simple spring increases steadily as the deflection is augmented, thus insuring that any tendency of the, hold-down ring to rise above its normal position will be opposed by an increasing axial load 'ofiered by the Spring. i

The new and improved cyIinder h'ead consEuction also includes another important feature in that, heretofore, nested, resilient, tapered, metallic reeds engaging the inner face of the holddown ring at their peripheries have been mounted on the cylinder-head by being clamped between a pair of holders carried by the head, but, in the present improved appliance, such reeds 28 havetheir inner parts held in the head by placing them in the mold and then the cylinder-head around them, whereby the metal of the head anchors the inne'rportions of the reeds firmly and securely in place, thus avoiding the need for any additional or separate reed-clamping part or parts.

All of the associated, hereinb'efore-mentioned mechanical elements act to seal'the gas pressures.

in the cylinders, the reeds preventing such pressures from escaping up inside of the hold-down ring, the spring. 21 forcing the hold-down ring down on to the sealing-ring l precluding rise of the latter from the top end of the inner cylinder and hence avoiding loss of pressure at this point, the gasket 23 and the retaining ring 24 barring kiss of pressure at the top of the cylinder.

Thus all of the new structuralcharacteristics detailed above conjointly contribute to the ademitted by the prior art, is not necessarily limited .and restricted to the precise and exact details of structure shown and described and that the appliance herein set forth may be modified within proper limits without departure from the heart and essence of the invention and without the loss or sacrifice of any of itsmaterial benefits and I advantages.

If'desired, the inner side-wall of the cylindergroove 2 I, as shown in the drawing, may be made oblique or bevelled-to facilitate the removal of the cylinder-head by contracting the locking-ring and its gasket upon temporary forcing of the cylinder-head inwardly of the cylinder to allow similar inward movement of the ring and gasket to effect their contraction to allow thir removal.

I claim:

1. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of an outer cylinder having port-means, a shorter inner cylinder inside of, concentric with, and spaced inwardly from said outer cylinder and terminating at one end short of the portmeans of said outer cylinder,,a split expansible sealing-ring hearing at its inner end on said end of said inner cylinder and having port-means registering with said port-means of said outer cylinder, a continuous hold-down ring bearing at its inner end on the opposite end of said sealing-ring, a cylinder-head mounted on said-outer cylinder and having an inwardly facing circumferential shoulder, an endless washer-shaped spring subs'tantially'flat when not under strain,

surrounding said cylinder-head and having a shifting hearing at its inner portion solely on said cylinder-head shoulder and also having a shifting hearing at its outer portion directly on the outer end of said hold-down ring and under strain yieldingly maintaining said hold-down ring in longitudinal position and said sealing-ring against said end of said inner cylinder, a reciprocatory curved valve-means slidable lengthwise in the space between said cylinders and opening and closing the registered port-means of said outer cylinder and of said hold-down ring.

2. In an internal combustion engine, thecombination of an outer cylinder having port-means, a shorter inner cylinder inside of, concentric with, and spaced inwardly from said outer cylinderand terminating at one end short of the portmeans of said outer cylinder, a split, expansible sealing-ring bearing-at its inner end on. said end of said inner cylinder and having port-means registering with said port-means of said outer aud os cylinder, an endless hold-down ring hearing at itsinner end on the opposite end oi said sealingring. a cast-metal cylinder-head mounted in said outer cylinder, means yieldingly pressing said hold-down ring down on said sealing-ring, curved valve-means slidable lengthwise in the space be tween said cylinders and opening and clonng the registered port-means of said outer cylinder and of. said hold-down ring, and nested, tapered, open-center, round metal reeds cast in said cylinder-head and projecting from said cylinder-head and en a i g the inner face or said hold-down ring in gas-pressure confining relatiom 3. In an internal-combustion engine, the comhination oi a cylinder having an internal circumierential groove near one end of said cylinder and of larger diameter than the bore of the cylinder, a cylinder-head iltted'ln said end of said cylinder and having an outwardly facing circumferential shoulder. and an expansihle and contractible snap locking-ring occupying said groove and overlapping said. shoulder thereby confining said 6. The structure presented in claim 3 in eombination with a gasket occupying said groove and interposed between said cylinder-head shoulder and said locking-ring. I

"I. The structure presented in claim 3 in which said locking-ring engages the outer side-wall of v said groove, in combination with a gasket-also occupying said groove, engaging the inner side face of said ring and overlapping and engaging said cylinder-head shoulder.

8. The structure presented in claim 1 in which 10 said cylinder has an internal circumferential r v groove near one end of said cylinder and 01' larger diameter than the bore of the cylinder, in which said cylinder-head is fitted in said end of said cylinder and 'has an outwardly facing circumierential shoulder, in combination with an expansible and contractible snap'locking-ring occupying said groove and overlapping said shoulder thereby confining said head in said cylinder.

9. The structure presented in claim 2 in which said cylinder has an internal circumferential groove near one end of said cylhider and otlarger diameter than the bore of the cylinder, and in which said cylinder-head has an outwardly-facing circumferential shoulder, in combination with 25 anexpansible and contraetible snap locking-ring occupying said groove and overlappin said shoulder theleby confining said headin said cylinder.

mm A. WOOBWARD; I0 

